Swype psyched to be on Droid X, fifty total devices by the end of 2010
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted June 24th 2010 2:19PM
posted June 24th 2010 2:19PM
Love it or lump it, looks like Swype is making inroads into the mobile space. We've seen it on a few handsets already, and we know how eager the company is to get on the iPhone, but still it doesn't look like Apple's ready to bite. In the meantime, it seems that the company is more than happy to make due with the likes of HTC, Samsung, and Motorola -- the latter having gone with Swype for the Droid X. According to CEO Mike McSherry, this is the company's biggest coup yet, though certainly not the last -- he says to look for the app on some fifty phones by late 2010.
SWYPE IS EPIC.
Love it.
@Revolutionary Yup.
@Revolutionary
Apple must be so pissed off, that they can't label this as innovation and was released for other phones first.
It would ruin their reputation!
But hell, I love competition.
@Revolutionary
Nice!
@Revolutionary I hope Apple doesn't make a similar application with some minor visual changes and call it "Revolutionary" or "magical!" Coz tell you what apple, FaceTime isn't Magical, its been with other phones (Eg. Nokia) for YEARS. And they had TRUE video calling over 3G.
And now Android has this app, I REALLY hope it stays with them so that Apple might know what Revolutionary really means!
@Revolutionary
I love Swype too! I just got it on my Hero! It seems to make text entry even less laggy than the default keyboard! It's so awesome and effortless! Best virtual keyboard ever.
@statickeith
Apple knows how to drag people into their products
by praising their own creations, innovations, like facetime, their retina display.
BTW, APPLE DIDN'T CREATE THE RETINA DISPLAY.
It was LG Displays, so credit goes to LG.
Facetime, is just another attempt to bring video calling to the market.
But hey, I'm still shy to do video calls. Let's see how this works.
That's why many blinded people buy their products.
Their advertisments are so good, and convincing that people buy them.
I for one, buy apple products, but at least I know what I'm buying.
Admitetly, I've never used it. But, it seems like all it does is save you the trouble of lifting you finger. You still have to spot the letters so that you can swipe to it. I guess for common words youd get used to the gesture, but I still think it'd be easier and faster to type with two thumbs rather than one finger.
@Revolutionary BUT apparently, the software keyboard on an Android device (i.e. Moto Droid X) is too hard to bring up, let alone use Swype.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/josh-and-jimmy-get-down-in-hot-4x-action-video/
@DroidYou I guess neither knew that you can just hold the menu button on android phones to pull up the keyboard anywhere but apps that specifically block it such as the launcher.
@MaltedVomit Though it seems simple, taking out that simple step does save time. I can definitely type faster now than before I had Swype. You don't need to be 100% accurate either, the software is very good.
@mr88
...the only thing I don't like using it for is the landscape keyboard. Since the screen is wider I prefer to use to hands to type, and it's sometimes difficult to reach across the screen with the other hand (and you obviously can't lift your finger or else it thinks you are starting a new word).
@MaltedVomit "I still think it'd be easier and faster to type with two thumbs rather than one finger."
Admittedly, I use Swype on a daily basis, and every single person I've known that has installed Swype on their Android phone (~4 personally) has been typing as fast as a normal touch-screen keyboard within 15 minutes. By the second day, they are typing faster. Empirical evidence counter-argues your intuitive guess.
Not lifting the finger reduces a lot of time. In one second you can swipe across a series of keys instead of typing a couple. And it's far more forgiving for missing the exact key position, so it greatly reduces typing errors.
@Revolutionary
Just installed it seems nice better than the stock n1 keyboard.
@Revolutionary
Compared to a standard tap keyboard it's definitly leaps and bounds better and you can type way faster, though it's still not as fast as a physical keyboard, even after having my HTC HD2 since it was released and using swype I could type significantly faster on my HTC Fuze's physical keyboard. Also there is one downfall on swype than makes it not useable 100% of the time, when it's a hot humid day you finger doesn't slide well across the glass screen at all slowing down typing significantly. Sadly so far no manufacturers seem to want to give us the larger 4"+ screens with a real keyboard, if you want the real keyboard you're stuck with a 3.7" screen tops so for the big screen phones swype is still the best keyboard.
@Revolutionary
Congrats to Swype. I've seen videos of it in action, it's crazy insane. It's the next evolution of typing... crazy good stuff.
@statickeith There sure are a lot of butt hurt nerds roaming around on Engadget lately. You have some issues that need intimidate attention. Getting worked up over this stuff is not healthy.
@Eli Haj And all of the apple sheeple will believe it! Love Swype on my android phone!
@MaltedVomit Don't comment about things you've never used. Swype is not as fast as a PC keyboard where you can use all your fingers, but it is faster than 2 thumbs, and you only need 1 finger (or thumb)
And, it's significantly better than Shapewriter too. For the day that my beta expired before I got into the open beta, it really sucked trying to use Shapewriter.
I've completely relegated the use of my Droid's keyboard to giving my phone extra mass.
@JimDibb
That is just because the Droid's keyboard is junk. If you ever use a good phone keyboard like on the Touch Pro 2, you realize how much better they are! I had to give up on my Tilt2 (AT&T Touch Pro 2), though, because its processor is horribly slow and WM is buggier on it than on any other WM device I ever used!
I'm pretty happy with my Nexus One with Swype, but if they could make me a thinner Touch Pro 2 with Android, capacitive screen, 1GHz processor, and 512MB RAM, I would buy it in a hearbeat.
@Peter F
you should have tried a custom ROM. my Verizon TP2 is pretty good. sure i wish it had a Snapdragon, but other than that, i really wouldn't change anything. the resistive screen on it is top notch. very responsive to fingers but also very responsive to a stylus or fingernail for when i need to be precise.
and on topic, i do like Swype, and i would use it as my primary if it had haptic feedback for when you're typing normally. it doesn't recognize my slang, so sometimes i need to type regular and having feedback helps.
@Peter F 1. Later Droids have domed keyboards, which rock
2. Even compared to a computer keyboard or the Touch Pro 2, Swype is amazing and fast. I can swype a world like perspective or celebration before you even get to the third letter. This is coming from someone who types 140 words per minute.
It's revolutionary.
I really hope Microsoft approves this for Win7 phones. It's a dealbreaker for me.
@Revolutionary Agree with you on this to a certain extent, but Apple is the only company that's making it known! iPhone wasn't even the first touchscreen phone, but Apple sure as hell made it appealing & captured everyone's attention. Can't knock them for that, it's all business.
@Revolutionary
This INNOVATION was originally created by IBM and was released on the iPhone 2 years ago as the ShapeWriter app.
Swype just copied Shapewriter and they have either licensed the tech from IBM or they'll get sued in due course.
@Revolutionary............ Htc sync (w/ htc aria support) CHECK, swype-hvga-1.56.apk file CHECK, htc aria....???? procuring tomorrow. im going to be soooooo set. ^_^
@Revolutionary
Interesting that you say LG made the display because on Apple's website they say Apple engineers developed it. A source would be nice.
Who's right?
For some reason I find myself less believing of Apple these days.
Runs great on my EVO. Wonderful stuff.
@CRA1G i've never tried it but i seem to hear nothing but awesome things about it. whats the learning curve like?
@kojo87 Well, I installed it, ran it, and swyped like I saw in a video somewhere and it just worked. So, I'd say pretty much zero learning curve, which adds to its awesomeness.
@CRA1G fantastic. i have a BlackBerry Bold 9700 right now and have grown quite accustomed to the physical QWERTY board. i hope to be getting a Dell Streak when it launches but i am not a big fan of touchscreen keyboards. hopefully this Swype will make the transition less painful.
@kojo87 I use it on my Droid Incredible and I love it! The learning curve is not too bad, since you'll be using an EVO, you'll have the sufficient space to swype well. On the DI, its a bit cramp, but I won't go back to the HTC keyboard anytime soon as it's quicker then using touch keyboard.
@kojo87 I actually have a 9700 as well...trust me, Swype makes the transition easier...still love my physical QWERTY keyboard though!
@kojo87 My EVO is my first daily-use virtual keyboard device, so I definitely am still adjusting to not having a physical QWERTY. The EVO's screen, being so big, makes it not as bad as it might be, but Swype makes it a lot better yet.
@kojo87
i've now been using the swype keyboard for about a week, and I have to say I type AT LEAST 2 if not 3 times as fast as the stock HTC keyboard on my Evo (previously I used an iPhone for a few years, so I'm accustomed to touch screens). It also more accurately predicts what I want to type, but there are a few caveats.
i find typing specific words that have double letters at the end of them (tell, I'll, etc.) don't register as well. I always have to hit the button that gives me other "predictions" to choose the right word since they show up as "tel" and "il". Also, at least for the Evo, there are no directional keys on their keyboard like the stock HTC one, so if i need to go back to erase something, I have to just keep tapping on the screen until the cursor is in the right place which gets a bit annoying.
all in all, i'm still much much faster with the swype keyboard, it just slows me down slightly in ways that the stock touch keyboard didn't. It just redirects the time spent on your error adjustment to other things. If they added some directional keys and It'll be near perfect!
@CRA1G It doesn't appear to work on my Evo. I'm sure if I've done something wrong, or need to change a setting, but it doesn't respond to my movements. I haven't yet tried to find out what's wrong. Doesn't look like it's Evo specific, though.
Great! Now we'll all forget how to type as well.
@Tegdagne
Have you read a text or Facebook post for anyone under 18 recently? It's already happened.
@Tegdagne
Texting ruined peoples abilities to spell, now this.
@JP Money
No... spell checkers ruined people's ability to spell. Texting ruined people's ability to not use shorthand in every other word.
@Tegdagne Because pushing fake buttons is so much like typing lol... I just got swype on my droid and love it... It really is a lot faster than "typing" once you get used to it though.
@Tegdagne
The funny thing with Swype is you need to know how to spell the word or it has no clue what you're trying to type. It forces you to be better spellers.
@houghtra
Forget the Optimus Maximus. Now I know how the upcoming Optimus Tactus is going to work.
In a few years current keyboards will start looking like ancient typewriters.
I might consider putting my Logitech into storage. Once it is an antique it might land a fortune at Sotheby's for my grandchildren. Now there's an investment tip for you ;)
@Tes Swype has an option to turn on word prediction, it's just not enabled by default.
@mr88
I especially love when someone types out a long sentence with multisyllabic words and yet types 'ur' instead of your. The freaking sentence was 85 characters long, would have hurt them to type 2 more characters?
@beheybirder I know...the only time I EVER shorten words like that is if I'm writing a tweet and need to shrink it to get it to fit.
It annoys me even more when intelligent people use the your instead of you're. Like, I know they know the difference, but they're too lazy to add the two extra keystrokes.
Call me old fashioned (I'm 21), but I capitalize and punctuate all of my IMs, texts, etc.
@wraith404
Wot r u on bout? dats agist.
@Tegdagne Swyping on the Droid has no effect on typing on a real keyboard. They are completely different muscle reactions and I don't think they interfere with each other at all.
Got it on my Incredible last week and I've been loving it. Took a couple of days to get used to, but now I'm definitely faster than I was before using Swype. Makes typing with one hand easier as well.
Damnit... give me swype in the market. I'm using shape writer on my Evo, but frankly I think that swype is a better keyboard. That and shape writer is gone now too
@everyone does
The open beta started maybe a week ago, but you have to sign up and get the installer from them.
http://beta.swype.com/